Colouring for adults

For my birthday back in February, my kids gave me a rather unusual present -- a colouring book and some pencils. It wasn't a child's colouring book, of course, but one specially for adults -- a beautiful volume full of intricate designs of gardens and flowers. You've probably seen this kind of thing in W. H. Smith. It seems to have become quite popular now.

I thought this was a great present. I was sure it would do me good to relax a bit and do something quite different from the kinds of things I usually do (work at the computer, sit in meetings, do laundry, etc., etc.). It took a while for me to make a start on the colouring book, but when I did, I found I really enjoyed it. I started with quite a simple design, and as soon as I'd finished, I moved on to a highly complex, double-spread garden scene. I've still not quite finished that one.

The whole thing is highly addictive. You have a few minutes to spare, so you get out the pencils, but then you find that you can't stop. You think, 'Oh, I'll just colour that flower and then I'll go and do x,' but before you know it, you've coloured a whole meadow of flowers and you've forgotten all about x.

I'm even going to buy myself another set of pencils so that I have a wider range of colours to work with...

So, the colouring book did turn out to be a good present. And if you're looking for something a bit different and a bit creative, I'd certainly recommend colouring for adults.

"The Importance of Being Earnest" with the Pantaloons

We enjoyed a great, laugh-a-minute evening yesterday, watching The Pantaloons' production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" at the Cornerstone Theatre in Didcot.

We first came across the Pantaloons last summer doing an open-air production of "Pride and Prejudice". We enjoyed that show so much that we decided to book to see them again as soon as they were performing something in our neck of the woods.

For those of you who don't know, the Pantaloons are a young, touring theatre company who put on productions that are high quality and incredibly funny. They are masters of improvisation, engineering inspired audience participation, and physical comedic theatre.

"The Importance of Being Earnest" is a funny play in its own right, but the Pantaloons' magic made it simply hilarious. We particularly loved the crass relationship between Miss Prism and Dr Chasuble, the deliberate set up and downplaying of the "A handbag..." line, and the American-style recap scene (with multiple movie references) after the interval.

If you enjoy clever, funny theatre with an irreverent twist, then I would recommend booking up for the Pantaloons now!

New book "Six Months in Paris" now available on Amazon!

After a long wait, my new book, Six Months in Paris, is finally available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk!

It's a fun, entertaining coming-of-age story about a young woman who travels to Paris and finds that her experiences there change the course of her life for good.

Here is the complete blurb:

Anna Chaliss has her life all mapped out…or so she thinks.

Taking a gap year before university, Anna heads off to Paris for six months to work as an au pair. A nice French family. Two lovely girls. A beautiful house in the suburbs. What could be better?

But things don’t quite turn out as planned. Instead of having the time of her life, Anna finds herself on a voyage of self-discovery which changes her future irrevocably.

I hope you enjoy it!

Easter weekend on the Jurassic coast

We had a lovely Easter weekend on the Jurassic coast, staying in Weymouth. The weather was a bit stormy at times, but otherwise things were great.

We stopped en route at one of our favourite places -- Stourhead. The weather that day was perfect and we absolutely loved wandering round the beautiful grounds in the bright spring sunshine. The kids, despite being teenagers now, were insistent that we do a National Trust Easter egg trail (they're still prepared to do it for the chocolate!!) and so we did. The (gratefully received) prize was a Cadbury's chocolate bunny each. We also enjoyed eating sandwiches and cakes on the terrace outside Stourhead's cafe. We managed to secure a table in the sun after braving the rather stressful queues for food -- unfortunately only too common in National Trust restaurants these days.

Saturday saw us in Lyme Regis in the pouring rain and howling wind. We visited Dinosaurland, seemingly named for marketing purposes rather than accuracy, given that this museum was more about small fossils than dinosaurs. However, it proved rather interesting -- a large, eclectic collection gathered together over the years from Lyme Regis' beach by a husband and wife palaeontologist team. We did a bit of fossil hunting on the beach ourselves, but didn't come up with anything more than a couple of pretty coloured stones. The wind and rain were a bit of a deterrent, to be honest...

We drove back to our holiday cottage via Abbotsbury -- a beautiful village, originally the site of an abbey. We climbed the hill behind the village to visit the picturesque and windswept fifteenth century church, which was built by the monks. Despite being bare inside, apart from some nesting birds, the chapel still occasionally hosts (presumably standing) services. Well worth a visit.

On Sunday, we visited the absolutely beautiful Athelhampton House. This is a fifteenth century manor house with lovely, award-winning gardens. We truly enjoyed our visit here. It is privately owned and so doesn't have huge numbers of visitors, and when we arrived we were warmly welcomed and actively encouraged to sit on any seat we saw -- most unusual in a stately home! We particularly enjoyed sitting in front of the roaring fire in the magnificent wood-panelled great hall.

We came home via family in Bournemouth, having enjoyed a fun-filled, relaxing Easter weekend.

Lovely Tesco delivery drivers

Tesco delivers our shopping once a week and the thing we like about this -- apart from the convenience, of course -- is the drivers.

On the whole, they are a lovely, friendly bunch. And there are one or two who we have got to know really quite well. We spend a while chatting to them on the doorstep and have learnt about what's going on it their lives -- their kids, their spouses, their plans to buy a new car, etc., etc. It's a pleasure when they deliver.

Last week, the driver who delivered to us was quite a surprise -- we hadn't seen him for several months. It transpired that his partner had been ill and so he had transferred to work for a Tesco branch in Wales for a few months so that she could recuperate. He told us all about the beautiful scenery and the relaxed pace of life in Wales. It sounded as if he'd like to go back!

We just enjoy chatting to these friendly Tesco delivery drivers, but I imagine that they provide a real service to the elderly and the lonely. Who would have thought that Tesco could be credited with that?

Gender inequalities and success

I attended an interesting talk recently by academic Kate Hoskins.

It was all about successful women in academia -- specifically, what makes them successful and what are the barriers to success experienced by women. Hoskins interviewed a cohort of female UK professors in her quest to find answers to these questions. She also had a particular interest (due to her own non-traditional route into academia) in successful women who come from working class backgrounds.

Amongst the women who Hoskins interviewed, almost all became successful, not alone, but with the help of either a sponsor (someone influential in the field who had recognised their potential, picked them up and actively made opportunities for them) or a mentor (someone who had been assigned as a mentor to that person and thereby supported them, gave them advice, etc.). Several of the women also attributed their success simply to being in the right place at the right time.

The talk was thought provoking and got me musing quite a bit around the subject. What about people who succeed in the absence of a mentor or sponsor? Do men also become successful through the support of sponsors and mentors? What effect does part-time working have on success?

Other things that Hoskins touched on were:

• The effect that one's schooling can have on success. Those who are educated privately have a far higher chance of becoming successful. Did grammar schools give opportunities (or a leg up) to those who showed promise in a way that today's comprehensive system does not?
• How should we deal with the fact that women feel less confident about seeking out promotion than men? 
• Being middle class gives you privilege and opportunities, which, on the face of it, is a good thing. But there is a flip side. A child who comes from a middle class background will very much feel the weight of expectation to do well and to succeed. But what if their aspirations are different from those of their parents? Or what if they have no desire to become successful?  In that case, this weight of expectation may become disabling rather than enabling.

All big, important questions, which, I'm sure you will agree, are very interesting to consider...

Birthday celebration

I had a lovely birthday weekend a couple of weeks ago, and felt very spoilt as the celebration extended over two days!

On the Saturday, we visited Lacock Abbey, a National Trust property in Wiltshire. Some of you may know that some scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed in parts of the old abbey. The cloisters were used, and one of the abbey rooms served as the potions classroom in the early films. At the time of filming, one of our friends was the house steward for Lacock and had to admonish Alan Rickman for repeatedly bursting through the ‘potions room’ door! (The repeated impact was causing damage to the ancient wood.) All of this was highly entertaining fare for our kids, of course.

Despite the fact that the weather was wet and miserable, we had a great time at Lacock. The house itself is beautiful and exemplifies several different periods of architecture. The abbey was also home to pioneer photographer William Henry Fox Talbot in the 1800s, and so there is an interesting photography exhibition on site. The National Trust owns not only the abbey, but also Lacock village, which we thoroughly enjoyed wandering round. We especially enjoyed the opportunity to explore inside one of the ancient houses in the village (currently a gift shop) and to visit the old tithe-barn, which is particularly impressive. We also enjoyed lunch (and tea) in the NT café – the food comes highly recommended.

On the Sunday, we ate out at a local Thai restaurant – the Zabb Thai in Abingdon. The food was delicious, the venue small and intimate, and the owner very pleasant and friendly. I would definitely recommend the Zabb Thai for all lovers of Thai food out there. And the kids loved it too!